Why do people seem to have such a "simplistic" view of terrorism and the Iraq war?

Question

I see on here so much, "Terrorism is bad and we need to kill the terrorists before they kill us." Sure, that's great and all, but why didn't we just stay in Afghanistan and fight Al-qaeda like we were supposed to? And why doesn't it make you angry at the current leadership at all for letting us down? All the reasons for us going in there have been disproven, and it would seem that Iraq is more of a "safe haven" for terrorism than ever before. We had the world behind us for awhile, and now they think we are aggressors as opposed to those only seeking justice. Don't you think that a negative world opinion would breed more terrorists?

This is not an about supporting the President, he is one man, and only a "temporary" fixture in the United States spotlight.

This is not about supporting the troops, because I don't blame them for what they are ordered to do.

It is about understanding the ramifications of our actions.

Why are so many blind to what we have now done?

I didn't say I have ALL the answers, but your personal attacks still don't answer my question.
And toojade, please take your bumper sticker quote and shove it...you are the kind of people I'm talking about...summing everything up with a cutesy little catch phrase. You are only proving my point.

Answer 1

Most people do not make an effort to understand the global world that we live in. They parrot what they are told from their choice of media outlet as gospel (both left and right) and only focus on those issues that the media chooses for them.

In Afghanistan the Taliban was driven from power and Al-qaeda was forced on the run. But as the 'mission' is turned over to the United Nations there are reports of Taliban and Al-qeada resurgence and an increase of of poppy (raw material for opiates)cultivation to record levels. The United States as well as the United Nations will have a presence in that country for a long time to come. Is this any different than when the Soviet Union was there in the 1980s ?

Iraq is a completely different issue.
Ever since July 1979 when Saddam took power in Iraq and immediately had 68 members of the government executed for being deemed disloyal, he had invaded two countries slaughtered hundreds of thousands Kurds, Arab Shia' and political opponents. He had a genocide machine in place that has only been eclipsed by Hitlers nazi Germany. He willingly used chemical and biological agents on both Iraqi and Iranian populations. He had belligerently disregarded the world community, willfully ignored cease fire agreements made with the international community after his Kuwaiti invasion. Little if any humanitarian aid supplied during the 1990s made it to those outside of the Baath party. He had shown nothing to the international community the his actions would change in the future. So to say terrorism, WMD, or anything else was the reason for this current situation would be incorrect. It was a combination of them all.

That being said, the situation in Iraq now is something that must be dealt with now. A vast majority there want peace, want the opportunity to be free from oppression. We in the United States do not think twice about voting, half of us do not even make the effort to vote. We can't be inconvenienced by skipping lunch, dealing with all the traffic, driving in our air conditioned cars to vote. But when you see someone walk for hours across the desert with the threat of death to themselves or their family to exercise their right to vote you may be able to understand why. To leave now would be abandoning them, it would let those in that country who wish to use violence and terror to oppress the people. This situation was not forseen nor was it intended, but it is a situation we must deal with. Sure, if we leave we will not see all of the death and destuction in the news any more, the media will leave as well. The violence and terror will only increase but we can go back to or normal lives, out of site out of mind.

Answer 2

I feel we should ask ourselves, why did al-Queda chose to do what it did on September 11, 2001? Was it to merely please God? Or, was it to provoke an overreaction from the United States? In Canada that horrible day, I remember people were already saying that whatever country did those barbaric acts would pay for it. Very early on, I remember the shock of what happened was combined with calls for retribution.

In a strategic sense, it is wise to think of what the terrorists WANT the West to do. These people are not dumb or stupid. I compare them to serial killers, that they are smart, but crazy. To directly answer your question, it seems that people have the view that terrorists are only trying to kill Westerners for the sake of doing so. It is possible that they don't get enough credit for planning their killing so intelligently (despite how cold that sounds, the fact remains that al-Queda is very pragmatic and methodical in their attacks). If people did, I'm sure the US would be putting more focus on intelligence services, like the CIA, as opposed to the military.

As well, it doesn't seem to be an acknowledgment that there are many forces at play in forming a terrorist that wants to kill Westerners. If there was, you would think steps would have been taken to ease popular hostility towards Western countries and their people. To my knowledge, there hasn't been popular discussion on how to lessen hostility toward the US specifically. Although I adknowledge that this doesn't eliminate the threat of an attack, a military operation can do no better. The fact remains that terrorism is very very hard to eleminate, no matter the meathods taken.
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EDIT: I realize this is a bit off topic from the question but.....Neeno, the largest mission in Afghanistan is currently maintained by NATO (which has a UN blessing), under the International Securtity Assistance Force's (ISAF) Operation Athena. The current big players in the mission are Canada, the UK, the US, and the Netherlands. Other NATO countries are involved, but have many restrictions on what their forces can do. That said, there are other missions operating in Afghanistan, but Operation Athena is the largest. As well, the failure to eradicate the poppy crops rests, with NATO, but mostly the Afghan government, as NATO doesn't want to incite more resentment than there already is against them.

It is different from 1980, that Canada (outside of the NATO mission) is direct force inside the Afghan government to create a competant bureaucracy, and is training the Afghan National Army. Also, the Afghan National Police is being trained by Canadian national police, the RCMP. And, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has several projects going on during the fighting.

Answer 3

Wow,this is such a good question and perfectly asked? I am angry about this whole situation. The AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TO BLAME HERE!! NOT ALL OF US, BUT HALF OF US. THE HALF THAT VOTED FOR BUSH AND ALL HIS BELIEFS!!! I never voted for this man because I new he cared nothing for the American people!!! I am not sure why EVERYONE COULD NOT SEE RIGHT THROUGH HIM!! The terrorist thing.....I hate to tell you this but it WILL NEVER GO AWAY!! IT WILL BE HERE UNTIL THE END OF OUR TIME!! We cannot kill everyone and attack every country, that is just not logical or morally right. We have been around for many years even though the terrorists were out there. We have evil out there in the world and we cant kill all the evil out there either. The best we can do is keep our military home and make it bigger and stronger so when we REALLY NEED THEM TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT WE WILL BE PREPARED!! WE CANNOT FIGHT EVERYONES BATTLES BECAUSE IN THE LONG RUN WE WILL HAVE NO ONE TO FIGHT OURS!!!

Answer 4

Iraq has bred more terrorists in fact it has become a black hole for Jihad. What is weird is that most of these men are from Saudi Arabia. They go to become holy warriors. There are allot of people that work in the intelligence community in Saudi Arabia who sympathize with people like Bin Laden. This is about leadership and what the consequences are when you do not pay attention to your enemies. In this instance its about bad leadership. The result overwhelming forces that have become greater than any conventional army in the free world. Bush actually thinks he can win the war in Iraq with a conventional Army. The other bigger problem was Rumsfeld. He really screwed things up bad. These things have happened over a number of years, and people do not like to face reality in the United States they think everyone is like us. I hope this computes. See ya.

Answer 5

My view is far from simplistic; I believe that if we're not careful we'll become exactly like the terrorists we're fighting. There's a thin line between fighting terrorists and becoming them, and it's not one to be taken lightly.

Answer 6

they seem to think that only muslms are terrorists... and that all terrorist muslims want America dead...

it frankly seems to be part of the whole "conservative ideology" of "why should I care about anything outside of my bubble" which is reflected in almost every aspect of their beliefs and attitudes...

they don't know the history... they don't care... they don't know the names of the groups... they don't care...

basically... they don't care about anything, as long as Bush is telling them "it's ok, I'm taking care of it all"...

Bush tells them "we're going after the terrorists" they say "ok"...

it comes down to... "why should they take the time to learn, if Bush is taking care of it all and I trust him?"

anyone that says "Maybe Bush isn't telling the truth?" is just a crazy liberal though...

they have the perfect little "drone" system set up... fueled by selfishness and apathy...

this isn't all conservatives... granted... but it seems to be a larger percentage than I would like to see...

Answer 7

Our news media has a tendancy to break things down into the most simplistic kind of story so we can "understand" the difference beteween the "good guys" and the "bad guys".

Answer 8

because they want to be right. the truth does not really matter. Neither the life of people from an other country,..

Just being right, and feeling good about oneself,

and lack of culture, intelectual laziness....
Or power of denial...

this simplicity amazed me too.

Answer 9

If you were the one with the simplistic viewpoint how would you know what sophisticated was? I certainly wouldnt be the one to come here and say I have ALL the answers.

Answer 10

Because , as they say ..liberalism IS a mental disorder .
Did anybody say that killing Nazis in WWII would make more Nazis ? The answer : "NO".